I'll Be Darned!: Recent vintage alterations/repairs No.2

It has been while since my last round-up of what I've been busy with at I'll Be Darned! Hq, so this post contains some more of the beautiful things that I have had the pleasure of working on recently....

 

A phenomenal diamante 1920's dress!

  

A patterned 1920's day dress.

 

1930's blue velvet 2-piece.

A 1920's embroidered cushion.

 This 1950's "Betty Barclay" dress has a quilted circle skirt.

 

A lovely 1950's brown cord dress.

 

Red gingham 1950's dress.

  

L-R: 1950's black wiggle dress with amazing red lining, and 1950's lace overlay evening dress.

L-R: Wool 1960's shift dress and black & white 1950's dress with orange accents.

 

 L-R: Beautiful black 1940's dress with beaded bow motif, Black 1950's evening dress with fab red lining and red button.

To find out exactly what I did to each of these beautiful garments, you can pop over to the IBD Facebook page and read more.

Have you got any favourites?

Mine is certainly the 40's beaded motif dress....and of course that amazing 1920's diamante dress!

Pip pip x

Birthday week...family, fun and beautiful presents!

My birthday was at the beginning of October. My 25th birthday. This scared me. As did the fact that it was my first "working" birthday ever (I usually wangle a day off). Eurgh, adulthood.

So I decided to pootle off to Norwich for a week before my birthday to spend time with my fam, foraging in other peoples cast offs (carboots, junk shops, charity shops, but that was covered in my previous post), playing drunk pool and eating loads of food.
Plus opening presents, obviously! .....WHAT? I'm not too grown up for presents. Never.


So here is an ever so quick pictorial round up of the week leading up to my birthday, minus the previously shared bargains:

 

5 games of drunk pool with made-up rules and everyfink. These rules included removing the black ball until the end, so it didn't get accidentally potted before its time. Obvs.

  

  Family frolicking and dog harassment.

 

 Birthday bowling after my first ever day of going to work on my birthday.

 

Now onto the PRESENTS!

 

Typewriter cushion thoughtfully chosen by my little sister. Knitted gauntlet gloves. Beautiful vintage buttons.

 

Housekeepers box. Teatowel. Kitsch vintage baby ornaments....and a satchel! A lovely lightly worn black vintage one, a handy smaller size than my beloved Burt. I think I shall name her Betty. And although I shouldn't know the price of birthday presents, my mumma just couldn't resist telling me, for it was such a bargain. Two teeny pounds from a carboot!

 

A swiss chalet clock.

 A vintage telephone table. A working vintage hairdryer. A 1950's tree topper lady with a crepe paper skirt. A ballerina ring holder. A retro portable radio. A giant shoe horn, of course. Folding coat hanger and retractable airer, and a vintage flag.

 

A naked lady. A lovely apron. A floral ceramic earring and brooch set. Vintage buttons. A knitted hat needle case. A faux fur capelet. A lucky rabbit foot brooch.

 

This vintage 1950's card has a music box attached, so when you turn the handle it plays a very twangy version of "Happy Birthday". How fab is that?

 

A beautifully glamorous vintage pearl, crystal and cut glass earring and choker set. A pair of crochet gloves. A black velvet turban-style headband, lovingly made by my talented nan!

 Tara Starlet 40's style dungarees.

 

Sweeeeeeets!

 

 

A treat voucher crafted by my wonderful pal.

 

This absolutely phenomenal 1940's coat was brought down by a lovely lady for me from the storage room of a charity shop when shopping with my mumma. I gasped. And my mother kindly offered to buy it for me as a combined birthday/christmas present. £45 well spent indeed! It is incredibly perfect condition, fits me (well, not on the chesty-region, but that rarely happens!) and just look at those pleats. And hidden/top secret pockets, but I didn't tell you that!

 A beautiful trio of wall mirrors. I can't wait to get these up in my flat when they manage to get here.

Now I just need to find a space for them...cue clever Mr Mike's suggestion to just get rid of some of my "stuff" to make room for them. I think NOT!

 A gold crest motif, which now sits perfectly on the front of our fake fireplace.

 This gorgeous 1940's dress is a luxuriously soft cotton summer dress....but there's no way I can possibly hold on until then. Besides, blue and cream works with brown right? I'm thinking brown What Katie Did seamed stockings, a brown cardigan and a fur collar. That's wintery.

Phew! What a fab bunch of present buyers I know, eh? As you can imagine, I was all smiles.

Pip pip x

I'll Be Darned! recent vintage mends.

So as you all no doubt know (due to my wittering on about it, sorry lovelies!), I have a business that deals with vintage clothing alterations and repairs. 4 months in and I am so happy to be doing this!

I have been getting the most beautiful garments coming to me for work, and I thought that maybe I ought to share all these beauties with you....what do you think? I gets lots of inspiration from other vintage bloggers' wardrobes and secondhand finds, so I thought that you ladies might also take some inspiration from these lovely garments.

So this evening I have some wonderful vintage to show off to you....just try not to get too jealous (I have to try rather hard myself, there's lots of things I'd love to own)!

 

L-R: A beautiful beaded bustier, green lurex capris (part of a two piece).

 

 A vintage child's western shirt.

 

 Gold lurex trousers (part of a two-piece).

 

L-R: A 1940's gown with illusion neckline and embroidery, and a silk fronted bathing suit.

 

Red chiffon dress with gold trim and shoulder drape.

  

 

"Nettie Vogues" chiffon maxi dress with blue drape.

 

The back of the above dress, before and after!

To find out exactly what I did to each of these beautiful garments, you can pop over to the IBD Facebook page and read more.

Pip pip xx

Sew What?: 1940's pinafore skirt in the last days of Summer!

Oh my, have I been away a long time! Doesn't time fly when you're...err.....working really hard!

Now I hadn't realised just how long it was since I last wrote a post, and I wouldn't blame you for thinking I had dropped off the face of the earth. Or taken a wonderful, lengthy summer holiday. However, I have not.

I have instead just been working really, really hard. In June I started my own alterations and repairs business (plus a sideline in vintage inspired hair accessories) and took the scary leap to self-employment which has left me feeling tired, busy and a little bit all over the place. That, and rather poor. So with not much time and very little money, you'll forgive me for not blogging for *GASP* almost two whole months. It's hard to know what to blog about when you aren't buying wonderful things/going anywhere exciting!

My lack of funds has left me pining after lots of pretty things but unable to afford them....so last night I got a little creative with my sewing machine and took a little bit of time to sew something for myself! I decided to make myself a 1940's style pinafore skirt because it is one of those items I have been pining after for goodness knows how long. Being thrifty, I dived into my stash and made use of some of the fabric I already had; I used a chunky black linen, and some vintage deep orange buttons.

Ever the impatient sewer, once I'd started it became something I simply had to finish immediately. I sewed into the night, and went to bed  one 40's style pinafore skirt richer!

So when I got up this morning, remembered my skirt-making success of the previous night and saw the sun shining (although there is a definite chill in the air) I of course threw on a bright and colourful enseble as I decided to celebrate the dying summer days.

Please excuse the terrible self-taken photographs, my chap wasn't around to take any for me!

 

 Yellow chiffon headscarf and hair flower, made by me (available here); Peasant top secondhand, originally Topshop); 1940's style pinafore skirt, made by me; Nude seamed stockings, What Katie Did; Coral sandals, a present from my chap and purchased from Clarks.

On the skirt, I made the straps attach to the waistband by way of buttons, as this means it can be worn in a multitude of ways: straight straps, crossed-over at the back, or even strapless as a simple skirt!

 

I covered up with a little blue wool bolero, part of a repro two-piece from Ebay.

1950's handbag, secondhand shop.

 

Outfit details:

Beautiful vintage brooch, gift from a friend.

A detail shot of the waist of my skirt, look at those lovely buttons!

Bamboo and green wooden bracelets....and dream shoes.

Hair accessories made by me, find them on my Rosie Alia Hair Accessories Facebook page.

I'll try not to stay away too long this time, promise!

Pip pip xx

My new business venture- I'll Be Darned!

Of late, there have been a few changes in my life- namely, I've gone from full time employment to working freelance and setting aside some time to start my own small business!

Elegant ladies and dapper gents of blogland, may I introduce to you all......

 I'll Be Darned! is a London based business offering vintage clothing alterations and repairs. Don't worry if you live further afield though, as you are more than welcome to pop items in the post to me.

Of course, I can also alter and repair non-vintage garments too, so please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Email me at rosie-alia@hotmail.com for more information.

If you would be so kind as to head on over and 'like' my I'll Be Darned! facebook page, and help me to build my business I would be forever grateful! Please share this with anyone you think might be interested in my services and wish me luck with my new venture!

Pip pip! xx

It does what it says on the proverbial tin!

Hello dear readers, I do hope you all are enjoying yourselves amidst this miserable weather.

I am still in Norfolk spending time with my family, and over the last few days it seems I have acquired a trio of items tied together by one theme....they all have specific purposes, laid out in golden font across the front of said items!

A stockings case, a hairpins box and a letter rack!

I picked up the cute little 50's/60's letter rack from my very favourite Norwich shop (the old Loose's overpriced for the most part, but full of treasures). It will look a treat on my newly organised desk!

 This absolutely glorious 'hairpins' case (also found in the old Loose's shop) is going to be just perfect for keeping those pesky kirby grips from attaching themselves to everything I place in my bag when on my travels!

And the box came with two unopened packets of hair pins too...look at that packaging!

My genius Mumma found this stockings case for me and was meant to be saving it for my birthday but was too excited and just couldn't resist giving it to me whilst I was back!

I am just swooning over these acquisitions in all their useful, beautiful, golden-fonted goodness!

Whilst on our family trip to our favourite Norwich shop, my Dad also made a purchase. A pretty phenomenal one at that! I'll give you a hint: it is much more sizeable than my purchases, and a total one off. But more on that later in the week....

 

Pip pip x

A little trip homewards...

For those of you who read my ramblings on this blog, I'm sure you have noticed that there's nothing more I like than to take a trip back to Norfolk to visit my family. That is except from taking a trip home to rummage for pretty things with my family.

So when I got the opportunity to pop home for the weekend last month I simply leapt at the chance!

 Lucky for me, it coincided with the wonderful summery weather which was perfect for a bit of vintage hunting and a garden party to celebrate my Mumma's birthday.

When I arrived home I was greeted by some rather brilliant presents from both sets of parents...

 

I spent the Saturday on a hunt for exciting things with my Dad and Step-Mum, visiting the Loose's fleamarket, charity shops, and an antiques shop. I came home with a few delightful treats:

 

Communist China (apparently) era waste paper basket - £3.50, Yellow 1960's handbag - £12,

1940's sunglasses - £5, jewelled clip on earrings - £1.50.

In the evening I travelled over to my Mum's to celebrate her birthday with a garden party. They have a pretty enchanting garden (vegetable patch, shepherds hut, fire pit, trampoline, climbing frame, wendy house, potting shed) which made the perfect setting for the festivities.

Cue a few drunken people tripping over guy ropes to the tipi; children running wild; an incident with some children, a purple drink, my 1940's dress and resulting in a very soggy me; and some very sore heads in the morning...not mine, you understand! I was keeping myself in a good state so I could fully enjoy the carboot on Sunday morning!

Speaking of which, due to the glorious weather we were enjoying, was out in force. I bought some things for the flat (pewter swan, 1950's magazine wall racks, eggcup, knitting bag....) and a couple of items of clothing (1960's cardigan and a 1940's dress in need of some quite serious tlc) of which I did not get around to taking photos of but I can assure you were all items I truly *NEEDED*...well, as much as anyone can ever need a pewter swan or another knitting bag. These things are surely crucial to my existence, right?!

We were later met by my chap, who drove down to Norwich with a big van to be filled with the backlog of carboot treasures which I never EVER have enough room in my suitcase to get back to London, and some furniture acquired from my parents. What I was expecting to be a few bits and pieces soon turned into a rather crammed van full of belongings! I can tell you that it is very stressful trying to justify to yourself (and your rather minimalist boyfriend) why you need quite so much stuff. I think the prospect of unloading said stuff and carrying it up 3 flights of stairs upon arrival back in London didn't exactly help!

But the main thing is, we did it. Our flat is looking rather cosy and all that stuff o'mine are finding their homes within our little flat!

Did anyone else utilise the lovely weather to get themselves a carboot fix?

Pip pip xx